E-Commerce Resolutions 2019

It’s the start of a fresh new year! Time to reflect on the year just gone and plan for the successes of the coming months.

You probably have a whole host of personal resolutions revolving around health, fitness, relationships, and self-fulfilment, but let’s take a moment to focus on what you could do to improve your business.

Even if you’ve already made personal resolutions, it’s not too late to make some resolutions for your e-commerce business.

Below are five easy e-commerce resolutions for 2019 that could change your business and your life:

1. Get competitive with delivery

Amazon are far more impressive as a distribution company than as a retailer, yet they are dominating retail. If their massive success has shown us anything, it’s that mastering distribution can take you all the way in e-commerce. Amazon’s Prime delivery service has changed e-commerce, and retail as a whole, but Amazon do more than just offer fast and free delivery. Items sold on Amazon have multiple delivery options; different carriers, different timescales, different costs. Something to suit every customer.

A standard free delivery and premium expedited service should be offered by all e-commerce sites in 2019 as a minimum.

Shipstation give merchants access to a wide range of delivery options, all at discounted prices.

2. Explore New Marketplaces

The biggest advantage of selling online is the easy access to a global market. Online is indeed like a whole new world, with marketplaces being like different countries. Some customers will travel and visit multiple marketplaces, but they will always check their marketplace of choice, their ‘home country’ first. Many are so loyal to their market place of choice that they buy everything from there as default, without ever travelling to the foreign lands of other marketplaces. You can sell to both marketplace comparison and marketplace loyal customers by selling from multiple marketplaces.

3. Turbo boost your checkout

No one wants to spend precious time trudging through a never ending checkout process. Especially not ones that expect us to type out lengthy details and mess about trying to set passwords on a touch screen mobile.

Super fast checkouts have always been customer preference, but they will become the standard in 2019.

Some of the features associated with these applications include:

One page checkout options

Progress bars

Auto-fill forms

Image recognition software (such as the ability to scan a QR code with a mobile phone)

Optional registration (checkout as guest)

4. Stop relying on discounts

Deal shoppers are not loyal shoppers, and if you want your e-commerce business to grow in 2019, you are going to need a loyal customer base.

With more manufacturers now selling direct to consumer, and big retailers showing they are willing to sell at a loss, customers are becoming discount blind. For customers, a discount is no longer something to be celebrated, it’s to be expected. The discounts are getting bigger too. No longer impressed by 10 or even 20%, retailers are struggling to inspire a reaction from less than a 30% dissount. You will struggle to stay stay profitable if you rely too heavily on discounting. Discounting should be just one part of the e-commerce marketing mix, and should be used strategically.

You will gain far greater rewards from investing in your brand in 2019 rather than sacrificing your profits to heavy discounting.

5. Sell on social.

Meeting your audience members where they spend their time is crucial, and if your customers are online, they are on social media for at least one-third of that time. Being on social media, talking with your customers and advertising your store is important, but social media platforms are now letting you go one step further and sell items on social platforms.

Most social media platforms now support integrated buy buttons that transfer users to your website to complete a sale. Apps such as Instagram and Snapchat offer shoppable stories, too.

If you are spending time and effort building an Instagram following, or utilising Facebook targeting to grow your customer base, shortening the customer journey by selling within those platforms will increase your sales.